


Angel, you’re like a painting

by cherrybaeks



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, M/M, Musician Chanyeol, Strangers to Lovers, Tattoo Artist Baekhyun, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 02:42:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17051546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrybaeks/pseuds/cherrybaeks
Summary: Prompt: #18Title: Angel, you’re like a paintingPairing: Baekhyun/ChanyeolSummary: Chanyeol wanted to get a tattoo. He might get something more out of that experience.





	Angel, you’re like a painting

**Author's Note:**

> 🔥 Big thank you to S for being such a wonderful person and helping me with all of my works, to the mods for your patience and to all the people who read this :3 🔥

Park Chanyeol was nervous.

It wasn't nervousness exactly. It was a mix between nerves and excitement. He didn't know what to expect from this meeting. He was completely new to this.

He had thought about this idea over and over again. Million times, if he was honest. And still he was standing speechless in front of the door considering to call it a day and return home. But he wasn't a coward, Chanyeol was going to accomplish his plans for today.

This was the first time he was doing something like this. Well.. Everything was new to him.

New country. New city. New friends.

Today was the day to try something new again.

New tattoo.

Chanyeol had been interested in them for some time by now. He liked how they decorated a person's body as if it was art, he loved how someone could add a design to their body forever because they wanted to remember something meaningful, or it could be simply for the reason that it looked good on their skin.

In Chanyeol's opinion, tattoos were indeed art. A way to express yourself. You could show your feelings or something that you love only by inking it on your skin. It was just like music, Chanyeol did the same thing. Just that he expressed himself through chords instead of ink. He could pass hours in his room writing and composing songs while playing the guitar.

He didn't agree with the stereotypes of tattoos, neither with the saying that getting a tattoo will only ruin your body, as his mother would have said. People shouldn't be judged if they have their body entirely covered with ink or if they have a tattooless skin. His mother would hate him if she knew what Chanyeol was about to do. Gladly, the tall boy didn’t care anymore.

Also, Chanyeol often wondered how he would look with some ink on his skin. He liked the idea of getting one sometime in his life since few years ago, back when he was a young boy with a heart full of dreams. However, the idea started to resonate more and more in his mind. Everytime Chanyeol looked at a person with a tattoo in the street he had a low voice in the back on his mind saying _'What if I get one?'_

Until he finally decided he was going to get some ink on his skin.

For him, it seemed like the correct thing to do. His life had changed a lot in the last two years. Why couldn't he add another change?

In his free time, he looked at pages in the internet related to tattoos to get more information on them, to be certain about his decision.

He didn't need to look too much. Chanyeol was sure about it, he wanted to get one of those.

His diligent research had taught him some more stuff though. Before getting inked, you needed the right place, the right artist, the right tattoo, the right everything.

It was a big choice.

You could buy a shirt and then don't wear it after you realized it was ugly as fuck. You could get a bad haircut and just wait until your hair grows again.

He didn't want to be in one of those TV shows where they cover bad tattoos. Chanyeol wanted to get something good-looking of course, he wanted to get something astonishing. 

So he browsed through the internet to look for a tattoo shop that seemed good, one that had tattoo artists which he really liked their style.

And now what started as a _tattoo shops near me_ Google search, ended with Chanyeol entering through the doors of Exodus Ink shop.

Once inside, a girl with a mop of wild curly chocolate brown hair welcomed him with a warm smile that was adorned with a piercing on her bottom lip.

Chanyeol gave the place a quick look, to affirm it was as he expected it to be. The shop was neat, everything was clean and in its place. It had a minimalistic design, the walls and the floor were white while the furniture was jet black and very modern. It looked professional, Chanyeol thought. At least the photos in their website didn't lie.

“Oh! You must be Chanyeol, right?” The girl spoke.

“Yeah.” Chanyeol nodded to answer her question. The girl was standing behind a counter so he walked closer to her.

“You can call me Em, nice to meet you tall boy.” She said with a flirty wink and extended her hand, which Chanyeol gently shook.

“Nice to meet you.”

This close Chanyeol could see she was a rather petite girl. The height difference was even more notorious with Chanyeol's long legs. Her sleeveless burgundy shirt allowed Chanyeol to see a set of colorful butterflies flying around on her shoulder. It looked good on her, he thought. Lovely. And in spite of her small and cute appearance, she seemed like a girl to not mess with, because she wouldn't think twice about defending herself.

“I'm guessing this is your first tattoo.” She interrupted his thoughts.

“That's true,” The tall boy let out a nervous laugh, “How did you know? I'm that obvious?”

“I know that look, I have seen it many times.” She said giggling, “Don't worry too much boy. We don't bite here in Exodus Ink. And this is only your consultation, it's not like you're getting ink on your body right away.”

In that moment the jingle bell of the door indicated that another person had arrived. A boy all dressed in leather with cat-like eyes. Chanyeol wondered if he was the artist he chose. He hadn’t met the artist in person yet.

“Hi Minnie.” Em greeted him, to which the other replied with a wave and a smile. Then Em returned his attention to Chanyeol again, “That's one of our artist, Minseok.”

It wasn’t the one who was going to be his tattoo artist. Chanyeol recognized his name, though. He was the one who did really impressive portraits.

One of the reasons he chose this shop was because they had a lot of variety of styles. One artist was specialized in black and white realism while the other worked mostly with traditional Asian style, and so on.

“Which reminds me... I’m gonna tell B that you’re already here.” Em then proceeded to put a black folder on top of the counter, “Here it’s B’s portfolio with more photos of his work, so you can see extra pictures of his beauties. You choose well.” She whispered the last thing between chuckles and went through the direction the previous guy walked in.

Chanyeol picked the folder she left on the counter and sat on one of the black sofas to wait there.

 _BoBoHu_ , said on the cover of the portfolio.

The tall boy started to turn pages and as he expected, all the designs there were all beautiful. Chanyeol was so immersed looking at every picture, even though he had seen some of them in the shop’s website and Instagram. In all honesty, he liked them all. 

Chanyeol days ago was looking at the works of every artist in this tattoo shop until one artist really caught his eye. He couldn't put a finger on what it was, but Chanyeol loved this artist's style. It was mix. One tattoo was minimalistic, the other had a gorgeous work with so much details. Apparently he mostly worked with animals and nature stuff, since Chanyeol saw a lot of birds, flowers, felines, dogs and trees, even a jellyfish. He saw a photo of the butterflies Em had on her shoulder too. He liked how the artist shifted from a delicate flower in pastel colors to a fierce pair of lions in black and white.

“Hey there Chanyeol.” said a male voice, catching Chanyeol’s attention. The voice was sugary sweet, and at the same time had a lively touch, it was like eating cotton candy on a bright day, “I’m Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol looked up from the portfolio to the owner of that voice. In a matter of seconds he left his mouth half opened in awe.

He certainly didn’t expect his tattoo artist to be this good-looking? Chanyeol had been comfortable with his sexuality from some time ago, but he felt attacked right now. This man was gorgeous. The tattoo artist was dressed casually, red plaid long sleeve shirt that matched his red hair and ripped black jeans, and still he managed to look as if he was supposed to be walking on a runway and not tattooing a nervous boy.

“O-oh! Hello. Nice to meet you.” The tall boy got up from the sofa. He saw in the corner of his eye how Em returned to behind the counter, she was drawing something on a paper apparently, too focused on her sketch to mind the exchange of the other two boys.

The tattoo artist was inches smaller than Chanyeol -as the majority of people he had met in his life- he had droopy eyes and pinky lips decorated with two piercings on the right side of his bottom lip, the taller noticed he had a nose ring too. Plus, Chanyeol kind of wanted to bite his cheeks because they were the cutest.

“Let’s go to my studio so we can talk better.” The other exclaimed and started to walk down the hallway.

His client followed him from behind with cautious steps. Now Chanyeol was wondering how a simple red plaid shirt made his shoulders look so broad.

The hallway had around 6 doors, one for each artist to have their own space, Chanyeol guessed. Baekhyun guided him to the last door on the left and entered the room. Chanyeol’s eyes travelled from the tattoo bed to the shelves with tattoo supplies. His nerves and excitement were growing bigger and bigger. 

“Make yourself comfortable.”

The tall boy sat on one of the chairs, bringing his knees closer. He always made himself look small despite his giant height.

“So tell me, spit everything. What brings you here?” The artist asked sitting in front of Chanyeol, “Apart from getting inked of course. I already know that.” He giggled and Chanyeol wanted to believe that his heart didn’t jump a little. 

“Have you thought about what you want to get? Any design in mind?”

“Kind of. I really love your style, so I want you to tattoo me.” Chanyeol ignored the proud smile on the other’s face and continued to take his phone out of his pocket. He opened his gallery to look for a certain picture, he then showed the artist a screenshot he took from BoBoHu’s Instagram, “I wish I could get something similar to this one.”

Recognition dawned on the artists’ face the instant he saw the photo, it was a man with his neck and shoulders covered with a birds’ wings, feathers all in black, “Oh, I did that tattoo like a month ago I think.” Baekhyun took a sketchbook from the desk beside them before continuing speaking, “So I see you want dotwork, and a bird?”

“I was thinking about a phoenix actually.” Chanyeol corrected him, tucking his phone inside his pocket again.

“Phoenix then… Fire, rebirth and ashes.” Baekhyun’s eyes were directed at him with interest, as if trying to analyze the taller and decipher why he wanted to get something like that.

“Yeah, I… I kinda relate to phoenixes?” 

Baekhyun chuckled as he wrote something on the paper. Chanyeol leaned in to take a look at what the tattoo artist was doing, bringing his chair closer to the other’s. _‘Phoenix boy.’_ Baekhyun had written.

“Alright. Placement?”

“I wanted it to be something a bit bigger like on my arm, chest or back? However... ” He trailed off, “This is my first tattoo so I’m not sure if that’s a good idea?”

“Don’t worry too much about it. It depends on the pain tolerance of the person for example. If you’re brave enough and 100% sure about your decision then go for it.”

“But it won’t hurt too much, right?”

Chanyeol saw how the artist got a little excited about the idea and started doodling little feathers and flames around. This close, the artist was even more handsome. His skin looked like some expensive porcelain. It made him look young, he shouldn’t be that much older than Chanyeol.

He noticed that the other male had an industrial piercing on his left ear and a silver chain going from the helix to the lobe on his right. More jewelry then. Chanyeol wondered if the artist had any tattoo himself, he had only seen piercings this far. There wasn’t any ink visible, Baekhyun’s shirt was covering his skin.

“Again, depending on the zone. Do you have any thoughts on how you’d like the phoenix to be? So I see where the design could look better.”

“Ohh I didn’t show you.” The taller took out his phone again, “I was thinking about the phoenix flying up.” This time the photo Chanyeol was showing to the tattoo artist was a phoenix drawing he saw on the internet. He stopped when Baekhyun leaned in even closer to look at the phone. Chanyeol wasn’t nervous. He _wasn’t._

 

Chanyeol let out the the breath he didn’t realized he was holding and continued speaking, “Like… The bird blowing fire and a long tail on fire too.”

Baekhyun was _too_ close for his liking.

Well… He wasn’t exactly opposed to that idea.

_Put your shit together Chanyeol._

“You could do the phoenix with its wings spread on your chest.” Baekhyun pressed his hand on Chanyeol’s arm now, touching his skin, “You have strong arms, if you want something smaller you could go for your big biceps.”

How he was going to keep his shit together with this guy?

“Can you take off your shirt?”

“What?” Chanyeol asked, his cheeks with a small little blush that could almost go unnoticed. He hoped that Baekhyun didn’t notice.

“I just wanna take a look at your body and your skin.” Baekhyun let out a small laugh, “If you’re comfortable doing it right now, of course.” He added when he saw Chanyeol’s shyness.

“No, no. It’s okay.” Chanyeol knew that Baekhyun would actually need to see him without his shirt on, but something in the way Baekhyun’s tongue rolled the question made him nervous.

Chanyeol stood up, facing the wall instead of Baekhyun -he thought he couldn’t handle striping with the artist’s eyes on him- and slowly took his light blue shirt off.

Suddenly Baekhyun was in front of him, more like going on circles around the taller, scrutinizing him with his eyes. Chanyeol felt a bit exposed, even though it was clear from Baekhyun’s face that he was more concentrated on his ideas, designing the artwork in his mind.

“Can I tell you my opinion?”

Chanyeol nodded, “Of course.”

“How big do you want it?”

Chanyeol was a bit confused at that. He didn’t know if there was another implication to that question.

“Why?”

“Since you have like a fucking giant back.” Baekhyun spoke now from behind him, grabbing Chanyeol by his shoulders, “Let’s take advantage of it and do a fucking giant phoenix. I pictured it here, flying on your back, the feathers and flames expanding to your ribs. The phoenix breathing out fire that goes to your neck. The tail going down down baby.”

The taller tried to dismiss how Baekhyun’s hands were moving down his back, touching his skin, as he explained what he thought. He almost lost it when Baekhyun was an inch apart from touching his ass when he mentioned the tail part.

Chanyeol left that thoughts in the back of his mind -or at least he tried because Baekhyun’s touch was very distracting. Plus, he called him _baby_ , what the fuck?- and took a moment to imagine what the artist described. It was better than what he could ever imagine.

It was exactly what he wanted. Something impressive. Something beautiful. Art on his body.

“Ohh! It sounds pretty cool. I love your idea.”

“Glad to hear.” The red-haired smiled, “Let me show you better.”

Baekhyun sat again, picking the sketchbook and the pen from the desk. He started to rapidly draw lines on the paper. Chanyeol was mesmerized looking at him. Baekhyun had the most beautiful hands Chanyeol had ever seen. It was a very gorgeous sight. The way his hand flowed smoothly drawing on the piece of paper. It must have taken years of practice. In a minute, few lines were already capturing the essence of the idea and portraying what the artist explained a moment before.

Chanyeol, totally engrossed with the artist’s hands, finally spotted something. Baekhyun had a word tattooed on the inner side of his ring finger. He couldn’t read what it said, though.

“What do you think?” Baekhyun showed to his client what he had been doing.

It amazed Chanyeol how Baekhyun did a ordinary sketch in a couple of minutes and he made it look so flawless, even detailing the feathers. This man had talent on his hands.

“I think it’s perfect.”

“Are you sure? We can do something different.” Baekhyun looked concerned. Chanyeol could see in his eyes that he didn’t want someone getting a tattoo that they will regret later.

“I’m a thousand percent sure B. I love your artwork.”

“It will take a while to finish, and considering it’s dotwork even more. Plus, your spine it’s gonna hurt like a motherfucker. There’s gonna be various sessions, if you can’t take the pain for too long even more then.”

“May I ask why it’s going to take long?” Chanyeol asked with curiosity, then he started to think about the pain part.

He thought he would be able to handle it.

Right?

He was brave.

“Doing a dotwork tattoo takes its time, since you have to fill it dot by dot. But I don’t care about time, I prefer this style though.”

He didn’t have to say that, Chanyeol realized that the majority of BoBoHu’s black tattoos were done in that style.

“Black will look so good on your skin tone.” Baekhyun murmured touching Chanyeol’s back again, biting his bottom lip.

“Wait…” The artist said then, “The thing about phoenixes is that they are red, it isn’t going to look like a simple bird if it’s only in black?”

“That’s true...” Chanyeol turned to him, thinking about it -or mostly looking at Baekhyun’s lip, he had a mole there. It was cute- “What about if the bird is in black but you add fire and flames in red?”

“I’ve never done it like that but there’s always a first time, right?” Baekhyun grinned, “You’ll be the fucking bomb with that shit on your back.” 

“Gimme a couple of days to finish the design. I’ll add details and that kind of shit that’d make you look like you’re on fire.”

“Fine Baekhyun.” He answered trying to keep it cool because his cheeks were the probably ones on fire.

They continued to talk about the remaining stuff, sessions, deposit and price -which Baekhyun kind of said that he made discounts for boys that were both hot and cute-. Chanyeol didn’t know what to do with that amount of flirt.

Was that boy even serious?

Chanyeol left Exodus Ink that day with a smile on his face. He was happy.

*-

“Oh my goodness it’s amazing!” Chanyeol exclaimed with a grin after he saw the artwork that Baekhyun created.

He came to Exodus Ink excited already but now he couldn’t contain in himself the excitement anymore. He wanted to start _now._

Today they were going to do only the outline if Chanyeol approved the design, which of course he did. Baekhyun did a very good job in Chanyeol’s opinion. It was so intricate, so amazing. He observed every single detail he put on the phoenix and its feathers and he was speechless.

“Glad to hear that you liked it. If you want to modificate something just tell me.”

“Liked it? Loved it.”

“Let’s get started then?” Baekhyun asked and Chanyeol nodded with a grin.

Baekhyun began preparing the tattoo station. Not to be dramatic, but Chanyeol thought that Baekhyun looked hot doing it. He was sure he stared at him the whole time, but the way his back looked in that indigo button up shirt was too sexy to not look at. Besides, he was a bit distracted by his hands on black latex gloves.

Later, Baekhyun had already cleaned and purified Chanyeol’s skin. It take a few minutes due to the large design but the stencil was on him. Chanyeol was checking himself on the mirror to see if everything was on its place.

Everything was good. It looked so well.

“Are you ready?”

“I am.” Chanyeol put himself comfortable on the tattoo bed

However, Chanyeol’s nerves struck again.

“Wait.” Chanyeol stopped him, when Baekhyun came closer with the tattoo machine. 

“You aren’t afraid of needles, are you?”

“If I was I wouldn’t be here, don’t you think?” Chanyeol teased.

“I’ve had people like that, tho...” Baekhyun giggled, “What’s the matter baby?”

“What does it feels like? I mean… The pain?”

Baekhyun placed the tattoo machine on the desk to talk to him properly “There are needles . At first you, . When you’re couple of hours it can get tiring. You can tell me if it hurts too much and I’ll stop and we’ll take a break.” Baekhyun was now caressing his arm with his hand, Chanyeol wanted him to remove the gloves to feel his touch better, “I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

Chanyeol nodded looking at him, immersed on his dark eyes even though Baekhyun had explained that couple of times before, “Alright. I trust you.”

“C’mon you can do it, you’ll be okay baby.” Chanyeol died a little when Baekhyun called him like that again, but acted as if nothing happened, “Tattoos hurt but they aren’t something unbearable.”

“Do you have any?” 

“Of course. I can’t be a tattoo artist without some ink myself, can I?” Baekhyun teased with a smile. He had a gorgeous smile, Chanyeol thought.

“Really?”

“Want me to show you? I actually have a back tattoo.”

Curiosity killed the cat.

Or more precisely, curiosity killed Chanyeol because Baekhyun got up from the chair and began undoing his shirt, revealing his body.

Chanyeol was wrong. If he thought Baekhyun was beautiful before.

Baekhyun was a masterpiece.

Chanyeol couldn’t look away from him. Baekhyun was covered in tattoos but they were something that Chanyeol had never seen before. He had a tree on his back, with branches reaching his ribs, even his shoulders and arms. He also caught delicate flowers, plenty of them. Roses, lilies and tulips, and a bird of paradise decorating his pectoral. Chanyeol thought he saw a hummingbird too, and puppy paws somewhere. They all were made in watercolour and it all blended together so well. Everything looked soft on him. It matched his cute appearance.

He was art. He was poetry.

His body was like a canvas that Chanyeol wanted to put paint on. 

“You're art.” Chanyeol exclaimed in awe, “You’re like a painting.”

He realized the reason why Baekhyun could create such beautiful pieces of art, because he was art himself.

Chanyeol had came closer to him, invading his private space, and softly brushing the tip of his fingers against Baekhyun’s back, then fully touching his skin. He didn’t realize how intimate they were being, nor how Baekhyun’s was biting his bottom lip. He was too distracted appreciating Baekhyun’s tattoos and his body.

“Chanyeol...” Baekhyun murmured, sounding more like a whimper.

The taller came back to his senses and put distance between them. 

Baekhyun put his shirt again, buttoning it up with his cheeks as red as his hair. He looked cute flustered. 

Thankfully, Baekhyun didn’t mention anything about it.

Baekhyun began tattooing him. They didn’t spoke at all after that. Somehow it didn’t matter the lack of words. It was a comfortable silence.

It hurt. Chanyeol was sure he was making weird faces as he handle the pain. But Baekhyun kept holding him softly and caring as he tattooed his skin.

That’s all Chanyeol needed.

*-

Soon it was his second session. Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Chanyeol followed the instructions he gave him about the aftercare. It seemed he did it fine because Baekhyun said it healed perfectly and there were no signs of infections.

They were going to begin filling the tattoo with black ink dots. This time, though. He wasn’t too focused on the pain. He was more relaxed and Baekhyun was nice to him, making small talk, as tender as usual.

“Phoenix boy.” Baekhyun called him to get his attention, Chanyeol was currently texting his best friend, “Tell me more about yourself. What do you do?”

Chanyeol hummed, not knowing where to start, “I love music. I came here from Korea with my friend Jongdae. I wanted to pursue my dreams and I did.” Chanyeol smiled, “We started a band with other two boys. It’s nothing big yet, we play here and there. We got these big gigs sometimes. I’m really happy.” He wanted to look at the artist, he couldn’t see him though, Baekhyun was working on his back, “What about you? Did you came here to be a tattoo artist?”

“No no, I’m Korean-American actually. My parents came here after they got married and soon this precious baby born was born.” He giggled, one of Chanyeol’s favorite sounds, “I’ve always loved to draw, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that I became an artist. I studied fine arts at college, but tattoos ended being my passion.”

“When did you start?”

“I began right when I started college. It was only a hobby back then, it didn’t end as a hobby you see. I love doing it for people, hearing stories and memories behind my art.” Baekhyun stopped tattooing to wipe the skin, “I didn’t want to ask because you seemed a little reserved... Why a phoenix? My guess is that you’ve passed through a lot.”

“You’re right...” His deep voice trailed off. There was a time when he didn’t want to speak about the topic. Not anymore. 

“My parents have always wanted me to be the very best. They had this weird perfect son ideal. They needed someone to fit their rich business people agenda. My parents wanted me to marry a girl, be the heir of their company, and I was a boy who just wanted to sing and play guitar. My parents were so pissed when they found out I was studying music, my mother even kicked me out of their house for months until they realized I wasn’t changing my mind and asked me to return. I still kinda loved them, though? so I came back.”

“Until the pressure became too much that started to damage my mental health. I lived all my life pretending to be something that I wasn’t. I was tired of hating myself. I got so tired of everything that I let it go. I still can remember the disgust on my father’s face when I came out to them. Neither of them spoke to me afterwards. It hurt for a while that my own parents decided to pretend that they didn’t have a son.”

Baekhyun was only looking at the taller. He didn’t want to interrupt him. He waited for Chanyeol to continue, giving him space but with his hand firmly on his shoulder. The taller’s eyes were watery. 

“Now here I am with my best friend, leaving my past behind. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life anymore. Something that Jongdae used to tell me a lot ‘ _Don’t give up, you’ll rise from the ashes Yeol_ ’ made me realize I’m kinda like a phoenix, reborn and rising from the ashes, living a new life, being _me_. I couldn’t be happier.”

The hand on his shoulder was reassuring Chanyeol that he was there for him, “I’m so glad that you’re good now, you deserve it.”

Baekhyun changed the topic later to make the taller laugh. His eyes weren’t made to shed tears.

It was nice to have someone else he could count on.

*-

His third session was two weeks later.

They talked a lot that day. Getting to know each other as Baekhyun carefully inked feather by feather on his skin.

Baekhyun was such a funny and easy-going person. They had similar personalities and got along so well. Chanyeol had a tough time trying to not move too much and staying still on the bed while the needles were on him, because he couldn’t stop smiling and laughing at everything Baekhyun said. The artist did his best to make him feel comfortable.

Baekhyun was a little ball of light. Chanyeol thought he was like the blue sky. Clear and bright.

“Which was the first tattoo that you got?” Chanyeol wondered out loud.

“The one in my finger. It says _fearless_. I got it to remind me to be someone who’s not scared of anything, not matter what happens it’ll be okay.”

When returned to his apartment, Chanyeol couldn’t stop thinking about fearless B.

*-

“I wish my session was sooner. I wanna see my phoenix finished.” Chanyeol said, picking up the Mocha he ordered.

His friend, Jongdae, was beside him, taking his Cappuccino in his small hands. Jongdae was the only reminder of his life back in Korea. They had met so many years ago, when a kid version of Chanyeol was sobbing on the playground because he accidentally step on a butterfly and little Jongdae came to comfort him with a bear hug. They became the closest friends ever since. Inseparable. And moving together to another country to start over again. Jongdae was the only one who was always by his side, even when his family turned their back on him. Actually, Jongdae was more his family than his own father and mother.

They were on a coffee shop at the moment, the weather was beginning to get colder and they decided it was time to get a hot beverage. Besides, the coffee shop was near where Exodus Ink, which reminded Chanyeol of a certain red haired. 

“Just say that you want to see him.” Jongdae refuted him, now both sitting on the table closer to the window, “You have a big fat crush on him. Don’t even try to deny it. You are acting like you are a teen again.”

Chanyeol’s ears turned red at that, “If you’d see him, you’d understand me. He’s so beautiful and so funny. I’m gonna bring you along with me to next week’s appointment.”

“No thanks I’ll pass, I don’t wanna look at your stupid lovey face.”

Maybe Jongdae was right.

*-

He later found out something more about Baekhyun.

Baekhyun’s voice was something to admire, but his singing voice was even better.

He sang so low that Chanyeol barely registered that Baekhyun was singing. It started as a humming but then sounded like a lullaby. The artist was focused on what he was doing so he didn’t realize that Chanyeol was paying attention to him. He wondered how Baekhyun’s voice would suit one of his songs.

He was an angel, and sang like one.

“Sing louder. Your voice is pretty.”

Baekhyun shut up instantly. Chanyeol side-eyed him, because Baekhyun leaned pretty close to look better. He saw how pinkish Baekhyun’s cheeks turned due to their proximity.

“No no...” Baekhyun replied quietly. He continued with his work, dismissing the embarrassment that Chanyeol heard him.

Chanyeol didn’t want to push more.

He usually checked his phone when Baekhyun was too concentrated on his work to talk. Although, he mostly checked social media or watched videos on youtube. At the moment Chanyeol couldn’t stop himself from typing something.

_Hello angel, you’re like a painting_  
_You’re all I see when I look to the skies_  
_City street lights, even if the lights go out_  
_And the moon disappears, it’s bright because_  
_I have a star that fell from the skies_  
_And it’s you_

*-

“When are you going to ask him out?” Jongdae asked the next time they were together and Chanyeol was yet again rambling about certain artist.

“You can’t ask your tattoo artist out Jongdae? We are in a professional artist-client relationship.” The doubt in Chanyeol’s voice was obvious. Deep in his mind he knew he was only making an excuse to hide his nerves.

Despite what he replied, Chanyeol had thought about it before. He was ignoring the possibility of meeting Baekhyun outside Exodus Ink.

“Yes you can ask him out. You left the professionalism long ago, probably when you couldn’t stop staring at his ass. I bet you get off thinking about him.”

“Shut up,” Chanyeol’s cheeks were as scarlet as Baekhyun’s hair, the redness extended to his big ears, “How I’m supposed to do it?”

“Doing it? I’m sure he will say yes.”

Jongdae was right about that.

“I’ll think about it.”

*-

“Pineapples, really?” Chanyeol teased Baekhyun as soon as he saw him. Baekhyun had a tendency to wear only long sleeve shirts and today he was wearing a black and white one that had a pattern of pineapples on it, “It’s almost winter and you’re looking like you just got out of Hawaii.”

“I did.” Baekhyun laughed.

“You went to Hawaii and you didn’t invite me? Rude.”

“I’ll take you with me next time.” The tattoo artist answered with a wink and a smile. Baekhyun’s smile was like a sunshine on a spring day.

The tattoo was almost ready. The last session Baekhyun had finished with all the the black and started coloring it, today he was going to continue with the flames.

They called it a day hours later and Baekhyun began wrapping Chanyeol up, doing it slowly. Plus, Baekhyun had been biting his bottom lip, and the silver jewelry was tempting him more. He wanted to bite it himself. 

It felt like his skin was really on fire but not because of the phoenix. Baekhyun’s hands left his skin burning. Chanyeol wished Baekhyun could remove the gloves and touch him everywhere.

He was thinking about other _things_ while Baekhyun was concentrated on protecting his skin. But something on Baekhyun’s cheeky smile told Chanyeol that he knew what was going on in Chanyeol’s brain.

“See you next time Phoenix boy.”

*-

“I can’t believe.” Jongdae exclaimed in the middle of a practice, “I don’t know how the both of you haven’t fucked by now.”

“You’re exaggerating. I don’t know what you mean with that.” Chanyeol faked not getting what he was implying.

“I haven’t even met him and I can already feel the sexual tension. Of course you know what I mean.”

Chanyeol directed his serious eyes at his friend, “I don’t.”

“Tell me, how many times have you fantasized about Baekhyun’s dick?”

“Me saying that I think his dick is huge doesn’t mean that I had jerked off thinking about him.”

“Whatever you say big boy. You forget that I know you like the palm of my hand.”

“You’re kinda gross sometimes.” Chanyeol ignored him and continued tuning his guitar.

“You’re gonna go dirty soon, you’ll see.”

*-

Chanyeol was inside Baekhyun's studio sitting in the tattoo bed for probably the last time. Baekhyun was beside him, watching him with his dark chocolate eyes.

Today they were going to finish some details and it'll be ready. His phoenix will be alive. 

“It’s almost finished...” Baekhyun whispered, “I think we’re gonna finish it today. Time flies fast.”

Baekhyun’s low voice was certainly going to drive him insane. Apparently Baekhyun knew that, because he was resting his hand on Chanyeol’s thigh.

“Yeah, right?”

“It feels like yesterday certain nervous Phoenix Boy came to me.”

Chanyeol chuckled, “I'm not that nervous anymore. You took good care of me.”

“I did?” Baekhyun turned to face him.

“You did” He answered with a whisper.

Their faces were inches apart, Chanyeol could feel Baekhyun's breath against his. He thought his eyes drifted to the other's lips. Perhaps they did.

“I really wanna kiss you right now. Like, I really really wanna kiss you.” Chanyeol added before he could think of regrets.

Baekhyun smirked, a smirk that the taller wanted to kiss away “Then what are you waiting for?”

Chanyeol closed the gap between them, joining their lips together, and Baekhyun kissed him back instantly. 

If Baekhyun was an angel then his lips tasted like heaven. Feeling Baekhyun's lips against his was a glorious experience. They felt so good. So soft, so sweet. It was like their lips fit together perfectly.

The kiss escalated quickly, Chanyeol was no longer shy. In no time there were tongues and teeth clashing together. Baekhyun took the lead, owning Chanyeol’s mouth and the taller let him.

Chanyeol didn’t realize how and when Baekhyun ended on his lap. Chanyeol brought Baekhyun closer to him. Baekhyun was already close, glued to his body, but not close enough, Chanyeol couldn't enough of him. He was drunk on Baekhyun’s scent. It was mix, he smelled like strawberries, vanilla, and something that made it so _Baekhyun_ that Chanyeol couldn’t put a finger on what it was. 

The taller had his hands on Baekhyun’s butt, squeezing the firm flesh hard, while the tattoo artist lifted a little Chanyeol’s shirt, touching slowly his abdomen. 

Baekhyun’s hands were hesitating before going further, asking for the taller’s permission. Chanyeol had wanted to feel more of Baekhyun hands so much that he couldn’t refrain himself from it anymore.

“I want you to touch me like that, without the gloves this time.”

“I’ve been waiting to hear that.”

That’s all that it took Baekhyun to get rid of Chanyeol’s white shirt and to continue devouring the taller’s lips with his hands all over his body. The touch ignited Chanyeol’s skin on fire. He knew he was hard, but Baekhyun's bulge in his pants said the same about him.

Baekhyun bit his bottom lip, hard, “I’ve wanted to do that so much. Your damn bottom lip was driving me insane for weeks.”

Then he proceed to kiss him until reaching his chest, with his hand gripping on Chanyeol’s black locks. Chanyeol was making noises, even more when Baekhyun licked his Adam’s apple.

“Well...” Baekhyun left a reddish mark on the taller’s skin what would be very evident later, “All of you have been driving insane.”

“You too.” He said, pulling the tattoo artist back to his lips to give him a demanding kiss. “You have too much clothes on.”

He was giving open mouthed kisses to Baekhyun’s neck. Chanyeol sucked at his skin, which gained a small moan from the other. That was music to his ears, as a musician Chanyeol wanted to hear more of it, so he began undoing his shirt.

He had had a glimpse of Baekhyun's tattooed body before, but he was surprised with him. Baekhyun was already the prettiest human being, beautiful in the outside and in the inside, but the tattoos on his skin made him look like a piece of art. 

“You're so beautiful Baek. So gorgeous.”

Baekhyun acted a bit shy again, looking somewhere else to hide his blush, but the other was touching him everywhere his hands reached. All his torso was covered in flowers, branches and animals. Nature extended his beauty. Chanyeol couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

“Really?” Chanyeol exclaimed when he caught jewelry on his nipples. He hadn’t noticed them before, “Naughty.”

“Like it? Play with them then.” The other demanded. 

Chanyeol's kisses were now directed toward Baekhyun's pierced nipples. Sucking, biting, licking. And Baekhyun’s moans were something delightful. Perhaps they were making too much noise, but neither of them care at the moment. Thankfully, Minseok always played loud Rock music in the shop. 

Baekhyun stopped him, “C’mere baby.”

He went on his knees in front of him, quickly finishing to take off the remaining of Chanyeol’s clothes and taking Chanyeol’s length inside his mouth. 

Chanyeol thought he was going to lose it right there.

He was distracted by how good Baekhyun's lips looked around his cock, so concentrated on getting him off. The artist locked his gaze with the taller’s as he speeded up his movements.

Baekhyun was as sin as he was art.

His mouth was as talented as his hands. His tongue working marvellous on his cock. Baekhyun was driving Chanyeol crazy, and he knew it.

He didn’t know how much time had passed but Chanyeol thought his orgasm was coming near. It wouldn’t take much.

Until Baekhyun stopped altogether.

He groaned, “Such a tease.”

“Perhaps I am.” Baekhyun smirked and stood up with a wink.

He went to take something out of one drawer.

“Do you really have lube and condoms along with your tattoo supplies?” Chanyeol commented with a small laugh, trying to recover his breath.

“Consider me a prepared man. I brought here days ago just in case,” Baekhyun came back, “You weren’t being that subtle checking me out.”

“You neither” He grabbed the smaller by the waist, “With how many people have you fucked here Mr. Byun?”

“You’re the first actually. I won’t spill cum all over my work place. You’re a special case, though.”

Chanyeol gave him a chaste kiss, “Less talk.”

“Lay down.”

Chanyeol was once more lying on the tattoo bed, this time though, Baekhyun’s beautiful lubed fingers were working him open. Slowly making him whimper. If this was how his fingers felt, he couldn’t wait to have Baekhyun’s cock inside him.

“This is exactly how I wanted to see you lying on this bed...” Baekhyun was with his eyes full of lust, and with Chanyeol wrecked under his touch, “Moaning my name.”

“I- I want _you_ ”

“What?” He asked removing his pretty fingers.

Chanyeol groaned when his hole was left without anything filling him. Baekhyun manhandled him to sit again, spreading his legs after he put the condom on, “You look so good this open for me baby.”

Baekhyun came closer and left yet another mark on his skin. He kissed Chanyeol until his lips were even more swollen than before, while he teased him, attempting to penetrate him with the tip of his cock, but not doing it at all and driving Chanyeol nuts in the process.

“Want your cock.” Chanyeol whimpered wrapping his leg around the tattoo artist, “Just fuck me B.”

With Baekhyun inside him, Chanyeol saw he wanted this as much as him. Chanyeol was overwhelmed by Baekhyun. He was filling him. Fucking him. Every thrust hitting right through his soul. Baekhyun made him feel so good. So good. That when he came he saw the stars, galaxies and the whole universe.

It was one of the best sex he had ever had in his life.

Also, they didn’t finish the tattoo that day, since how they had completely forgot about a certain phoenix.

*-

His phoenix was finished.

After weeks, _months_. Chanyeol couldn’t believe it was finally ready, even though he was standing in front of the mirror with his mouth forming a little ‘o’.

It looked astonishing. His back looked on fire as Baekhyun promised. The tattoo artist had put every ounce of effort and talent that was on him to make the tattoo one of the best he had ever done. If not the very best. The phoenix looked as if it was really flying on Chanyeol’s skin. The combination of black ink on Chanyeol’s skin tone with the red fire around the bird accentuated its greatness even more. It had an amazing work on details, up close the feathers were carefully done dot by dot. The flames looked delicate but aggressive at the same time.

Baekhyun outdid himself with this tattoo.

Even though Chanyeol was beyond happy with the result, his mind had been thinking and thinking about another thing. He didn’t want this to be the last time he would see Baekhyun. He should ask him out on a date. He really should.

At first Chanyeol thought something would change now that they had fucked. What if Baekhyun only wanted a one-time thing? Chanyeol expected awkwardness between them the next appointment but Baekhyun was as his normal bubbly self, not showing any sign that he saw Chanyeol as a one night time stand, that relieved him.

Baekhyun, as usual, had wrapped the tattoo after cleaning him up. Usually they would speak more before Chanyeol. However, the other was fidgeting with his hands. Probably, thinking the same as Chanyeol.

He didn’t want to say goodbye.

It was now or never.

“Baek… I was wondering if I could...” Chanyeol murmured when he was done putting on his shirt.

“Ask me out? Yes. Fucking yes.”

And Chanyeol did

*-

It was a winter night, and despite the cold weather Chanyeol was far from being cold. He was with his boyfriend in their newly shared apartment.

Baekhyun was under him with his back softly resting on the mattress, while Chanyeol had put himself between his boyfriend legs. The taller was peppering him with little kisses on his face, kissing every inch of his skin.

That's what Baekhyun deserved, being kissed, being loved.

“You don't know how cute you are.” The taller whispered on the other male’s lips.

“Say that yourself mister.” Baekhyun chuckled, running his beautiful slender fingers through the blond locks of his boyfriend.

Chanyeol was now pressing a gentle kiss on each mole of Baekhyun’s nose then on the one on his cheek.

“Baby you really love my moles, don’t you?”

“They make you look even cuter.” Chanyeol answered giving a quick kiss on the mole of his lip, which gained a grin on his boyfriend’s face. 

Baekhyun’s smile was something so beautiful, so resplendent. It couldn’t compete with not even the sun because it was brighter. So bright.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Chanyeol said to him sincerely, “You really are my angel."

Baekhyun really was.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated :3
> 
> Let's be friends on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cherry_baeks) ❤️


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